Sociology of Sport VIII Power Point
Sports in Society:
Issues and Controversies
Chapter 16
Sports in the Future:
What Do We Want Them to Be?
The future is created rather than predicted.
Thinking about the future:
Envisioning possibilities
Sports are social constructions; they can be
invented, redefined, and changed.
The meaning, purpose, and organization of sports in the future will be based on the
collective decisions and actions of human beings.
Sports are contested activities when people
struggle over these decisions.
Models for thinking about
sports and the future (I)
Power & performance sports
Will be dominant in immediate future because
they reaffirm dominant ideologies
Corporate sponsors give priority to these sports because they reaffirm their interests
They are exclusive and create more spectators
than participants
Their popularity depends on power staying in the control of men who value conquest over others
(continued)
Questions that people will raise about
power & performance sports:
How should technology be regulated when
exploring human limits?
How can fairness be guaranteed when there is
unequal access to training and technology?
How can injuries be minimized and access
maximized when the goal is conquest?
Models for thinking about
sports and the future (II)
Pleasure & participation sports
Will grow as “connections” are valued over
confrontation and domination
Corporate sponsors may support these sports more in the future as people question dominant ideologies
Other factors support the growth of these sports:
Concerns about health and fitness
Participation preferences of older people
Values and experiences that women bring to sports
Groups seeking alternative sports and new ways to do sports
College club sports
offer sports that combine elements of power & performance
AND pleasure & participation.
Ultimate is a good
example of this.
Current Trends (I)
Factors supporting the growth of
power & performance sports
People with power and influence use them to reaffirm the ideologies that legitimize their
position in society
They are easy to market and sell
Media can focus on individuals and their stories
Fans identify with individual athletes who endorse
products sold to fans.
Current Trends (II)
Factors supporting the growth of
Pleasure & participation sports
Concerns about health and fitness
Preferences among older people
Current values and experiences of girls &
women
Groups seeking alternatives to power &
performance sports
Concerns about health and fitness may
encourage sports that have a wellness value.
Some older people will emphasize traditional
pleasure and participation sports, but others . . .
. . . will turn to less traditional or new alternatives.
Women and men will play more sports together—
sports organized for pleasure & participation more than power & performance.
Photo by Jay Coakley
Women’s roller derby is an emerging new sport—
is it a power and performance sport or a pleasure and participation sport?
Athletes with a disability are participating more in sports. Creatively
designed equipment permits new forms of sports involvement for
people of all ability levels, as shown by these young wheelchair racers.
Photo: ©Rich Cruse/Courtesy of the Challenged Athletes Foundation, http://www .challengedathletes.org
Those who favor unstructured activities will seek
alternatives to power & performance sports. Alternative sports now include much more than “extreme” sports.
Photo by Jay Coakley
Those who favor
unstructured activities will seek alternatives to
power & performance sports.
Alternative sports now include much
more than
“extreme” sports.
Photo by Jay Coakley
Many alternative sports are not extreme.
They may involve competition, but they’re organized around a pleasure and participation model.
Photo by Jay Coakley
Other pleasure and participation sports will be more
spontaneous, such as this backyard trampoline competition.
Photo by Jay Coakley
Many pleasure & participation sports offer health benefits as
well as connections with other people and the environment.
Photo by Jay Coakley
Photo by Jay Coakley
Corporations in Japan use pleasure and participation sports to
develop good working relationships between employees. This is cheap compared to $4 million for a 30-seconds
commercial time during the Super Bowl.
Other Alternatives
Boom Boom Huck Jam/Ticket to Ride
Paralympics
Special Olympics
Gay Games
Senior Games
Muslim Women’s Games
Adventure sports
According to some sociologists, this would qualify as an
alternative sport that challenges existing gender ideology .
People with disabilities also will seek connections through
sports—with other people and with the environment.
Photo by John Faier for Gay Games VII
The Gay Games have an emphasis on inclusion.
Factors influencing trends today
Organization & rationalization (“do it the right way”)
Commercialization & consumption (“you are what you buy, wear, and use”)
Telecommunications & electronic media (“Leave my video games and go outside? No way.”)
Technology (“Enhancement is now normal”)
Demographic changes (“Hola! ¿Dónde está el campo de fútbol”)
Current trends:
Sports for people with disabilities (I)
Increase in people disabled by war, lack of medical
care, and poverty
Increasing recognition that people with disabilities desire to play sports and have a right to expect
opportunities
Continuing use of sport participation as therapy
More sports for elite athletes with disabilities
(continued)
Current trends:
Sports for people with disabilities (II)
New technologies that facilitate sport participation
More visible examples of sports for elite athletes
with disabilities
Emerging ideas, vocabularies, and orientations that
support people with a disability and their participation in sports
Miracle Field in Myrtle Beach is totally accessible
and allows people with impaired walking to play baseball.
Miracle League & Field
Grounded in idealism
Created by idealists with a vision for
increasing opportunities for young people with disabilities
Related to the needs of 6+ million children in the U.S. and thousands of soldiers whose
injuries caused physical impairments
Accessible playing surfaces and
sport facilities make it possible for people to play sports under encouraging conditions.
Will video sport
games and virtual sports replace on-the- field games among
some children?
Trying to improve skills on your
own terms is different from doing a
routine over and over to meet
someone else’s standards. Once
we “feel” this distinction in our own
sport participation, we become
much more creative as we think of
how to do sports and incorporate
them into our lives.
Becoming change agents:
Identifying goals (I)
Conservative goal: growth Based on the belief that sports should
expand and become more efficient in their current forms
Emphasizes management issues and improving performance
Becoming change agents:
Identifying goals (II)
Reformist goal: improvement
Based on a belief that sports are
positive and participation opportunities should be increased
Emphasizes social inclusion, equity, and fairness
Becoming change agents:
Identifying goals (III)
Radical goal: transformation
Based on the belief that dominant
sports are fatally flawed and must be reorganized or replaced
Emphasizes a critical approach along with structural and ideological changes
Vantage points
for making changes
1. Work within the system of sports
Be an “insider” and try to avoid being co -opted
2. Join “opposition” groups
Create or join groups that use political pressure to create
futures based on idealistic visions
3. Create new or alternative sports
Focus on new ways to view and play sports and inspire
others to do the same
4. Work outside sports
Work to transform cultural practices and forms of social
relations that affect the meaning and organization of
sports
Viewing sports as social constructions may cause
some people to be defensive because they resist the idea that we can or ever should change sports.
Participants can change the way sports are organized and played
to meet their interests. This is done frequently by people not
constrained by the great sport myth or a desire to follow official rules.
Quidditch: Created by students at Middlebury College
Photo by Jay Coakley
Tough Mudders:
created by students in a Harvard business class
Pushing for change from outside
sports
Push for change from
outside sports
This logo was created to protest the
use of an offensive Native American
logo in a Colorado high school Photo by Jay Coakley
Regardless of vantage point, being an
effective agent of change requires
1. Visions of what sports and social life could
and should be like
2. Willingness to work hard on the strategies
needed to turn visions into realities
3. Political abilities to rally the resources that
make strategies effective
Creating futures:
Using cultural theories
Cultural theories Explain how people use power to maintain
sports to represent their interests and how they resist change
Goals are usually reformist, seldom conservative, and occasionally radical
Changing sports requires Changing symbols, values, vocabularies, beliefs,
and ideologies
Empowering people to create sports on their own terms
A strategic focus on inclusion
Creating futures:
Using interactionist theories
Interactionist theories Explain that people often resist reformist and
radical changes because the status quo supports valued identities
Goals (when combined with cultural theories) are reform and transformation
Changing sports requires Changing socialization processes, identities, and
priorities given to various role models and significant others
Tactful, evidence-based strategies that defuse resistance
Developing alliances with people in sports
Creating futures:
Using structural theories
Structural theories
Explain that social worlds are organized around values
and interests and that changing sports has implications for overall patterns of organization
Goals can be conservative, reformist, or
transformational (depends on type of theory used)
Changing sports requires
Changes in relationships and patterns of organization
More equitable distribution of material resources and access
to power and economic opportunities
Regulation of economic processes
Transforming sports
is a challenging task
Efforts are met with strong resistance
Believers in the great sport myth know
that sports as they currently exist are the way they should be
Example: Changing the size & weight of a baseball to fit the physical attributes of
young players is resisted, even if it reduces shoulder and elbow injuries.
Deviants in 1968; heroes today
Photo by Jay Johnson
Great sport myth believers
often uncritically conclude that “a ball can change the world.”
Even as a slogan this is
naïve.
Photo by Jay Coakley
Athletes as change agents
Athletes have celebrity and market status, but little real power to reform or transform sports or society. Therefore, they focus on conservative goals.
If athletes endorse deep changes in society, they risk losing support and media coverage. Athletes often focus on non-contentious issues and
use conservative strategies
To become change agents, athletes require the support of established organizations that can provide them with “cover.”
Professional sport teams often have programs that
serve local populations. This one serves
low-income, minority youth in Indianapolis.
Is this a good place to become a change agent?
Photo by Jay Coakley
The future is created rather than predicted.